A native of Cocalico, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Bentz was the son of Reverend Peter Bentz and Anna Maria Caffroth Bentz;[1] his father, an itinerant farmer, joiner, and unordained Lutheran preacher, committed suicide in 1818,[2] and his mother was forced to raise him on her own.
Much of his fraktur was birth records, which he produced to augment his income.
Much of Bentz's work is distinguished by its bold lines and the use of architectural elements as decoration, almost Greek Revival in style.
Sometimes he wrote the tetragrammaton into his paintings, an unusual inclusion for a fraktur artist, especially given his background as a member of the Reformed Church.
[2] Six works by Bentz are in the collection of the Winterthur Museum,[3] including a cutout piece.